Covid Wedding

Here is what a Covid wedding in Israel is like these days:

First, it's a pleasant surprise to actually get invited, as the Corona rules are quite strict regarding numbers of guests. The chuppah was held in the backyard of a synagogue that abuts a park in our neighborhood. A few hours before the wedding, a message from the bride came in on my phone: "Ellen, can I assume you two would rather be slightly farther away from the ceremony, but in a place with less people?" Why, yes, she could assume that (clever friend)! And then I had this odd revelation that this was the Corona-equivalent of doing a reception seating chart.....

Her future husband had called the police to check that, although the guidelines say 20 people per wedding, could they have 60 people in three different locations just for the ceremony? The answer was "yes, but we will be coming to check". 

When we arrived, the wedding coordinator and her (small) team was actually functioning as a "Covid Safety Team", making sure that everyone was obeying the rules. Masks and hand sanitizer were available at the check-in table (although mask-wearing is a law here, and while you will certainly see people wearing masks incorrectly, it's pretty rare to see people not wearing a mask at all). The coordinators were allowing ten people in at a time to visit with the bride before the ceremony, and then showing us where we would stand for the ceremony. Although we were standing outside of the synagogue area in the park, we actually had a great view, right alongside the chuppah (although my feet still aren't talking to me after standing in fancy shoes for 2 hours, after eight months of not wearing such things). 

Another group was set up in the reception area, which had 5 tables of three, and one table of four (equals 19!). The bride and groom's table was alone in the next section, where the chuppah was being held (although it held the full 20--and probably a few more given the three musicians, photographers and videographer--during the ceremony). All in all, a lovely, beautiful evening and a very good job was done keeping it "within the rules". How do we know? The police did, indeed, come check before the ceremony started and allowed everything to proceed. Whew.

So how was it??? BEAUTIFUL--a lovely reflection of a special couple who took all the Covid lemons put on their big day and turned them into the most wonderful lemonade.  Look at this photo--you can tell:

  

Awesome photo, right? That's because
www.PhotographyByPenina.com was on the scene!

A HUGE "mazal tov" to Shira Chana and Yosef. We were honored to be part of your special day!

Daily/Weekly/Monthly (?!) Update

 Here's the big news around these parts:

We had Cousin Jillian over for Shabbat. Which is really a big deal when you consider that NO ONE has been to our house for a Shabbat meal for the past 8 months. While we would have hosted probably 30 times since March, instead we had one--ONE--guest. Wow. No pressure, Jillian. It was really a great Shabbos together. Thankfully, none of us had forgotten how to have manners when necessary (I was getting a little worried.....). She's a total sweetie and, once we made up our "rules" for the weekend ("can we hug?" "are we supposed to wear masks aside from when eating?") and decided our "covid pod" now numbers 6 and includes Jillian, we dispensed with masks and hugged with reckless abandon (which no longer sounds like a silly thing to say). It was wonderful to have a Shabbos that felt so totally normal in a way that almost nothing has for the past 8 months.

In Covid-related news, Israel's numbers are going down, thankfully, and outdoor malls and stores were allowed to open yesterday. Here's a "before" and "after" shot of swanky Mamila Mall just outside the Old City. It was SO nice to go to work yesterday and have the mall be alive with people instead of feeling like something out of a Scooby Doo episode:

Grades 1-4 in Israel went back to school last week and it was great to see kids walking around with backpacks and having some sort of normal schedule. Predictably, a few days later there was an outcry by some parents asking for their children to go to school without masks on. Somehow they seem not to understand that the choice is likely "go to school with a mask on" or "sit at home NOT in school and don't wear a mask"....Ilana's school is trying out a program of having classes a few hours several times a week in outside yards. Today was the first one. So far, so good :)

And finally, a recent favorite in "puppy cam"

So I guess the update is a little boring, but boring is fine by me. You know that curse, right--"May you live in interesting times"?